


Dioskouroi

by Rest_at_the_Bonfire



Category: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: But she's not a pilot, Doomseekers are also a thing in He-Man I swear, F/F, F/M, Little bit of angst, Mira totally exists in He-Man, Politics, Post-Season 5, SCIENCE!, She-ra - Freeform, Sneaking about, Standoffs, Wait is he really named Clamp Champ oh lawd, be the fanfic you want to see in the world, cosmic nonsense, little bit of destiny, magic did what now, post-war complexities, what have i gotten myself into, world building
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-12 19:15:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29015700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rest_at_the_Bonfire/pseuds/Rest_at_the_Bonfire
Summary: So, Horde Prime is defeated and the magic of Etheria has been unshackled for the first time in, let's say, a thousand years or so. Oh, and the myriad of planets formerly controlled by Horde Prime are now probably under new management, and not all of it is friendly. Etheria is no longer isolated, and the universe is deeply, deeply weird.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), He-Man | Adam/Teela, Man-At-Arms & Teela
Comments: 21
Kudos: 26





	1. Promises and Portents

**Author's Note:**

> Right, well, here we go I suppose. I thought I could scratch the itch one way, and it only served to draw me in deeper. So here we go, an honest-to-goodness story that starts where the show stopped and goes off in a direction that, hopefully, you'll think is as cool as I do. I'm going to will this damn thing into being and hopefully when Netflix comes to their senses and greenlights more She-Ra (and, of course, the creators are willing to come back to tell another story, if not let sleeping gods lie I say), we'll get something rad.

Adora wandered in the darkness, having no idea where she was or how she got there. She did her best not to panic and looked around to see if there was anything that she could use as a landmark or guide. There wasn’t much of anything except… there. A small glimmer of light far in the distance. She cautiously made her way towards it, as silently as she was able. The light grew steadily brighter as she neared it. All at once it was before her, blindingly brilliant, as if a star had descended from the heavens and now floated before her. She shaded her eyes with one hand and watched as the light shifted and coalesced into a familiar form: a tall, muscular blonde woman, dressed in a white jumpsuit emblazoned with a stylized golden eagle, a golden crown on her brow. “Oh.”

“Hello, Adora.” The woman smiled, brilliant and blinding. “I was hoping you would find your way here eventually.”

“You’re…” Adora trailed off.

“Yes, I am.” The woman smiled again, fondly. “I am so immensely proud of you, Adora. For the first time in nearly a thousand years, the magic of Etheria is free.” She waved her hand, and a forest began to flourish around them. “I am free.” Her smile faltered. “But I also now remember.” She looked down at Adora, and there was pain and sadness in her gaze. Adora rocked back as if she was going to be crushed under the weight of a thousand years of sorrow.

“What,” Adora managed to say, feeling tears begin to form at the corners of her eyes, “what do you remember?”

“A promise made,” the woman sighed, looking away, “made and unfulfilled.”

The words were out of Adora’s mouth before she even realized she was saying them, “What can I do?”

“My dearest child,” the woman’s smile returned even brighter than before. “Always willing to put others before yourself.” She reached out and patted Adora on the head fondly. “You deserve a little time for yourself, do you not think so?” Her eyes were shining mischievously. “I daresay that Catra would agree.”

Adora blushed and looked away. “You’re uh, you’re probably right.” Her eye was drawn to something in the surrounding darkness, the faintest hint of movement. She turned back to the woman, who had also apparently noticed.

“I did not expect they would be here so soon,” she sighed. “Adora, it is time to go.” She reached back and withdrew a slim, sharp sword. “I have kept you here too long.”

“What? What do you mean?” Adora took a step closer as a gigantic _something_ appeared to shift in the darkness. “What’s out there?”

“Magic is free again, Adora. You did not just free me, you freed _everything._ ” She placed her hand on Adora’s shoulder. “Not all of it is going to be friendly. Now hurry, before they get here.”

“Before who gets here?” Adora would have asked, had she not felt a sudden coldness wrap around her. A jet-black tentacle reached out, entangling her and dragging her backwards. Adora felt a wave of panic wash over her, and in the moment felt helpless.

“Now, Adora! Go!” The woman leapt over her and dove into the formless void, sword poised to strike.

It was enough to snap Adora out of her reverie. She struggled mightily against the freezing tentacle, feeling it drag the warmth from her body. Then she felt herself falling backwards, and as the darkness threatened to envelop her utterly, she shouted: “For the Honor of Greyskull!”

There was a dull whump and the sound of what sounded like cracking wood, along with a particularly feline yowl. Adora (presently She-Ra) sat bolt upright and looked around wildly in confusion.

“Hey, Adora!” Catra growled from the floor, tangled in the bedsheets. “What’s the big—” She stopped short as she saw the glowing form of She-Ra in front of her. Catra scrambled to her feet and was at Adora’s side in an instant, eyes full of concern. “Hey, you’re okay. Adora. Adora!” Catra put her hands on either side of Adora’s face. “Calm down, Adora. I’m here, it’s all right.” Adora seemed to come back to herself and looked at Catra, her expression shifting from fear to relief.

“Catra,” she whispered, and brought her forehead down to Catra’s with a light bump. Slowly, she shrank back to her normal size, the blinding golden glow of the goddess protector of Etheria fading away, leaving nothing but a few glowing motes of released magic floating lazily through the air. Catra looked up at her and smiled nervously.

“So uh, does this happen often?”

“Hm?” Adora, savior of Etheria, avatar of She-Ra and destroyer of Horde Prime, found herself utterly distracted by Catra and the way the blankets had fallen away from her lithe form and barely heard the question.

“The whole turning into She-Ra in your sleep thing,” Catra elaborated. “I think you might have broken the headboard when you transformed.” She sat back and her smile widened. “Should we get a bigger bed, is what I’m saying.” One of the motes of magic drifted gently onto the tip of Catra’s nose. She turned her head quickly to the side and gave a small, incredibly cat-like sneeze.

It was probably the sneeze that did it. Adora leaned forward, hand slipping behind Catra’s neck, and pulled her in for a kiss. The two stayed that way for a few moments before Adora pulled away and sighed contentedly. “I love you,” she murmured.

Catra, who had started to purr, shook her head with a smile. “I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of hearing that.”

“And I shall never tire of saying it,” Adora said with a theatrical air. She grinned fiercely then, and tackled Catra backwards into the mattress, now looming over her, blonde hair spilling over her shoulders and hanging down, lightly brushing against Catra’s shoulders. She leaned her head down and whispered into Catra’s ear. “Now then, seeing as we’re both awake…”

Catra’s purring intensified as Adora lightly brushed her lips across Catra’s collarbone. “You’re such an idiot,” she managed to say, shuddering.

“Mm, of course I am,” Adora replied as she slowly kissed her way back up Catra’s neck. “I fell in love with you, after all.”

“Wait,” Catra said, mentally hating herself for stopping Adora from what she was doing, “You didn’t answer my question.”

“Questions are for Future Catra and Adora.” Adora propped herself up on both arms and looked down at Catra with a smile that was making all sorts of innuendo. “I was told we deserved some time to ourselves, and I am,” she leaned down as she was talking and began punctuating each word with a kiss that traveled lower, “so,” kiss, “very,” kiss, “very,” kiss, “responsible.”

Catra, one-time Commander of the Horde, former Scourge of the Princess Alliance and sworn enemy of She-Ra, agreed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This, all this here is set-up. I tried to make it interesting, and then I felt it would be remiss to just gloss over the fact that Adora and Catra are two wonderful dorks in love. I don't want to overcommit here, but I will try to have more of this up sometime in the next week or so.
> 
> You wouldn't believe how long it took me to get a first paragraph written. I had something else written entirely, but then I thought it might work better elsewhere so whoops, there went a whole page of text. Hopefully now that I've got a beginning, the rest will be a little less... fraught in its development.
> 
> I've got a whole page that's just random sentences and thoughts about how things work and where they're going so uh, most of that will probably never show up anywhere. Thanks for reading! Come back again when I've written more!


	2. Communication Conundrum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's all well and good to declare that you're going to restore magic to the universe, but someone has to think about the logistics of interplanetary exploration.
> 
> Luckily, Entrapta loves thinking about the logistics of interplanetary exploration.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look, my first time trying to write anyone who isn't Adora or Catra!

Sleep, decided Entrapta, was for other people. How could anybody sleep, she reasoned, when there were so many new unknowns to discover? She sat surrounded by technology scavenged from the Horde, both that brought by Hordak – her favorite lab partner by _far_ – when he had first landed on Etheria and the newer technology left behind by Horde Prime’s invasion force. It was the newer technology that currently held her attention.

Almost as soon as Horde Prime had been defeated, Adora had put forth the idea of exploring other planets with the goal of restoring magic across the universe. Entrapta was enthusiastic about the exploration part, and cautious about the restoration of magic. A planet like Etheria had an ecosystem that evolved in part around the presence of magic and, she had no doubt, benefited greatly from the restoration of wild magic. Would other planets benefit from the intrusion of such a powerful, unpredictable force? Entrapta was not so sure. The magic of Etheria, after all, was nearly used to destroy the entire universe. She still didn’t understand exactly how it was supposed to have accomplished its goal of planetary eradication, but her best guess was that the detonation of raw magical energy on a global scale would either consume all life in magical fire, or the instability inherent in such a reaction would have caused rapid, unsustainable shifts in the planetary ecosystem and create an accelerated climate disaster. It was fun to think about, at any rate.

In any event, Entrapta knew that no matter what the potential outcome of restoring magic to the universe – a conversation for another time, certainly – any exploration would need some way of keeping in touch. Their previous foray into space had demonstrated the limitations of their current setup – they couldn’t just rely on Adora talking to Swift Wind and she had no idea what kind of range that telepathic link had anyway – but Horde Prime had been able to broadcast his incredibly creepy messages across his entire empire – at least that was Entrapta’s best guess. She had spent most of the day – and now, most of the night – attempting to find and map the communications network that she was certain existed. It was a difficult task, perhaps the most difficult that she had faced in recent memory – well, the portal had been pretty tricky, and she hadn’t actually gotten it to work, and of course there was also hacking into Horde Prime’s Spire Network to disable the chips embedded in the citizens of Etheria and the clones of Horde Prime on-planet as well. Maybe it actually wasn’t all that difficult, comparatively. She rubbed her chin with her prehensile hair and huffed in annoyance. She needed her lab partner back.

The phrase “Horde Prime’s Spire Network” floated lazily through her mind and stuck there. She paused. It couldn’t be that simple, could it? She rummaged through a pile of assorted gadgetry that had accrued over the course of the past few days until she found the datapad she had used to map the network. She stared at the images on the pad intently, occasionally making adjustments via the touchscreen interface and making increasingly excited noises. Finally, she stood up triumphantly. “Emily! Emily, record this, it’s important.” The spherical robot trundled obediently over and extended a thin microphone. Entrapta breathed out slowly, attempting to compose herself. When she failed to calm down at all, she began talking anyway, because Very Important Science was happening.

“On the question of an interplanetary communications network: I had assumed that Horde Prime would have had separate networks for both his mind-control signals and regular communications, because that’s what I would do. Separate networks mean the loss of one wouldn’t affect the other, which I would think was very important when you're using both to control a worlds-spanning empire! I wasn’t thinking like an insufferable egomaniac, so I didn’t think that anyone would have entrusted so much to one single point of failure. Who does that? No redundancies at all. Anyway, it turns out that Horde Prime probably figured if he lost the control network, the communication network would probably be useless, and he was doomed anyway. Or maybe he just thought he would never be in the position of losing control of his network?” She stopped, momentarily distracted by the question before continuing.

“I was able to block the broadcast of the control signal when I hacked into the network, but if I could get full access to the network itself, I could use it to set up our own interplanetary communications network! We could keep in touch with Adora when she goes off on her magic restoration quest thing.” She frowned. “Still not sure if that’s a good idea. Either way, the only way that I can get that kind of access would be if I were Horde Prime myself, because everything seems to be keyed to his genetic code. That means I’ll need to borrow a clone. Or Hordak!”

She clapped her hands together in excitement. “Finally, a good excuse!” She pocketed the datapad and ran out of her workshop.

Entrapta had made it nearly halfway to Queen Glimmer’s bedchamber before she remembered that sleep was, in fact, for other people and those other people were probably asleep, and that most likely included Glimmer, who, Entrapta figured, would not be awake for at least a few more hours. She slowly came to a halt, then turned around and began walking back in the direction of her workshop. She could be patient, of course she could be patient, there were plenty of other things that she could do while waiting for Glimmer to wake up. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the datapad; she could always use the extra time to build a better case for giving her access to Hordak. The more data she had to support her, the better.

The map of the Spire Network was incredibly complex and, Entrapta thought, beautiful in that complexity. It lay dormant now, but when she had first discovered it and begun her investigation, it pulsed and flashed with data almost constantly. Of course, since the main transmitter – she was fairly certain Horde Prime’s flagship was the main node, anyway – had been turned into a gigantic tree by She-Ra’s magic, there was no longer any traffic at all. Entrapta was no fool, and she understood that leaving Horde Prime’s gigantic doomsday ship functional would have been a terrible idea, and yet it would have _also_ been an incredibly powerful transmitter that she could have used for interplanetary communications.

Probably. In theory.

She made a small noise of frustration as she opened the door of her workshop. They’d need to build a transmitter of their own, now, something that she was certain that Hordak would be able to help her with. He had managed to send a message out of Despondos, after all, and that was interdimensional communication! Sure, they’d almost torn the fabric of reality doing it but, well, lessons learned and all that. Entrapta was certain that they could make an interplanetary transmitter far more safely. First, however, she needed to get access to the Spire Network to see if they could even reconnect it in the first place. And for that, she needed her lab partner.

Another sound something like “hrm” escaped Entrapta. She could be patient. Being patient was easy. Entrapta was the best at patience. She just needed a distraction.

Several hours later, Scorpia poked her head into the workshop. “Hey there, ‘Trapt..uh, you okay?” Inside, Entrapta was slumped over at her workbench, snoring gently. To one side was the datapad, and to the other was a partially constructed device that Scorpia thought looked like something that she, personally, would probably call a Death Ray. “I’ll just… I’m gonna close this door real quiet now and uh, you sleep.” She slowly backed away and shut the door. “Yup. Gonna let you sleep, and maybe let someone know about the death ray.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoof, okay, that one's a bit dense, isn't it? I didn't mean for this to be an entire chapter, but I'm also trying to keep things a little short just so I can post things more frequently than if I really go for it in terms of length. Still a bit of world building here, some hints as to the current state of affairs, and an excuse to try and get into Entrapta's head a little bit.
> 
> Scorpia is cool, so here she is, being as Scorpia as I can make her, currently.
> 
> Edit: went back and changed some terminology because I forgot what some things were called.


	3. Refineries and Rucksacks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we discover that not everywhere is as peaceful as Etheria.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooh, who's this now?

“All right, let’s go over this one more time.” The speaker was tall, with broad shoulders and a bushy moustache that decades of conflict had turned grey before its time. He was outfitted in a massive suit of armor, clearly customized to fit his gigantic frame. He was standing at the head of a table, around which were seated two men in similar armor, as well as a much younger-looking man dressed in what looked to be grey combat fatigues. The young man had short-cropped blond hair and was watching the presentation through half-closed eyes. The speaker pressed a button on the side of the table and a holographic display flickered to life, a three-dimensional representation of a city outlined in green. “Commander Raenius will take his forces and launch an assault at the southern end of the city to try and draw the enemy’s attention. While the enemy is otherwise occupied, we infiltrate through a storm drain in the northern ward and head straight for the refinery.”

He fiddled with a few knobs and the image shifted to show an imposing-looking building, giant towers belching black smoke. “Our objective is at the heart of the facility; we need to recover as much thulite as possible before the enemy has a chance to react.” He continued, “Once we’ve secured the objective, we’ll have a transport standing by to pick us up about four blocks east of the facility. We’ll have to be quick about it, there’s no telling how long it can remain in enemy airspace before someone gets curious.” He turned off the hologram. “That’s the plan, gentlemen. In and out, as quietly as possible.”

“What could go wrong?” the young man asked with a grin.

Four hours later as alarm klaxons blared, he wondered why, after years of war against the Horde he had not learned any lessons about tempting fate.

*

The transport craft hovered awkwardly in the air, as if it understood it had no business being airborne, much less relied upon for a potentially complicated extraction. The interior was dimly lit with red lighting, and barely revealed the presence of a woman dressed in an olive-green flight suit and grey helmet standing at the open cargo door. “He’s late,” she said aloud.

“He’s always late,” a voice crackled in her headset. She looked across to where the pilot was strapped in, trying to keep the craft as innocuous as possible. “Why would today be any different?”

“Well, a girl can dream, can’t she?” That got a laugh from the pilot. “Any chance you can take us lower, maybe land on a rooftop or something? I trust that counterfeit flight authorization about as far as I can throw it, and it isn’t a physical object.”

“Don’t worry, Tee, we’re good for at least a little while longer.” The ship juddered slightly as the pilot flipped a few switches. “I’m more worried about this heap staying airborne than I am those credentials being flagged.”

“Thank you, Mira, that’s very reassuring,” Teela rolled her eyes and looked westward, towards the refinery. “Come on, Adam,” she muttered to herself. “Where are you?”

*

“Duncan, I need an exit,” the young man shouted into a radio, crouched behind a heavy iron crate in a hallway currently saturated with enemy fire. The body of one of the soldiers – Eric, he reminded himself, his name was Eric – was sprawled in the middle of the hallway, a hefty rucksack full of thulite crystals in a heap next to him.

“Working on it, Adam, just need a few more seconds,” came the reply.

“I don’t have a few seconds!” Adam shouted as a bullet ricocheted off the wall and carved a neat furrow across his arm. He tried to make himself smaller behind the crate.

“Hold onto your butt,” the voice stated as the wall in front off Adam buckled and was propelled forward by some massive force. Duncan’s massive form charged through and he planted his feet firmly, even as gunfire and energy blasts slammed into his armor. “Grab the bag and let’s go, I can’t keep this up forever!” Duncan swung a gigantic maul forward and slammed it into the ground. A shockwave traveled through the ground in the direction of the enemy and he was rewarded with the sound of bodies flying. The enemy fire lessened. Adam scrambled to his feet and grabbed the rucksack.

“Time to go, Duncan!” The two dashed through the ragged hole that Duncan had blown in the wall, heading for the nearest exit. “Where’s Carmine?” he managed to ask shortly before they crashed through a window into an alleyway behind the refinery.

“Sent him on ahead with the other bag, drew off the pursuit as best I could,” Duncan replied, brushing broken glass off his massive shoulders. “I told you those crystals were important!” He swung his maul against the wall, collapsing it and hopefully making it harder for their pursuers to follow. As the two turned to run, Duncan pulled a flare gun and shot it into the air. A brilliant green light shot into the air and detonated in a spectacular light show. “Hopefully, Rae has someone watching for the signal and knows it’s time to leave,” he muttered.

Adam reached down to his radio and discovered that it was a mess of broken plastic and circuitry. “My radio’s gone,” he shouted as the two sprinted towards the extraction point. “Can you call the transport and let them know we’re on our way?”

Duncan shot him a look. “I just shielded you from about twenty guns and you think I still have an intact communicator? We’ll just have to hope that Carmine got to them in one piece and they’re waiting for us.” The sound of sirens began to fill the air as the city began to come to life to defend itself from this intrusion.

“So, what you’re saying is…”

“Run faster.”

*

“There, I see them!” Teela shouted, pointing past Mira’s face to the two figures dashing down a main thoroughfare.

“Very inconspicuous of them,” Mira muttered to herself, swooping the transport low and hovering a few feet off the ground. “Better give them some cover, girl.”

Teela brought up a rifle and sighted down the scope. “I don’t see anyone following them yet.” A flash of metal in the sky caught her eye. “Wait, we’ve got Doomseekers!” The giant drones bore down on Duncan and Adam as they sprinted for the transport. Adam had fallen behind, and Duncan had a giant rucksack slung across his shoulders. Teela breathed out and squeezed the trigger, sending a bolt of charged plasma into the nearest Doomseeker. It smoked and began to spin wildly out of control, slamming into the ground and detonating in a small ball of fire.

“Time to go!” Duncan shouted as he dove into the transport, narrowly missing Teela. “Get us out of here now!”

“Wait, what about Adam?” Mira asked, turning in her seat to look at Duncan.

“He’ll make it, don’t worry. But none of us will if you don’t get us out of here right now!” Duncan rolled onto his back, breathing heavily. Mira looked to Teela, worry on her face. Teela nodded, resolute.

“Let’s go, Mira.” Teela turned to the fleeing form of Adam. “You’d better hurry,” she whispered to herself. There was a lurch as Mira increased the power and the transport began to rise into the air. Teela aimed at a Doomseeker that had gotten too close and knocked it out of the sky with a quick three-round burst. “Tell me again why we didn’t choose a transport that was armed?”

“Trying to keep… a low profile… whew.” Duncan managed from his position on the deck. He turned his head away from the front of the transport, staring into the rear. “Oh, good to see you made it, Carmine.”

The soldier gave a thumbs-up from his position, securely strapped into his seat, and patted a second bulging rucksack.

“Well, you did a great job keeping a low profile,” Teela shot back, and turned back to aim for another Doomseeker There was an explosion, followed by two more in quick succession. She looked up. “Those last few weren’t me.” Cannoning out of the wreckage of a fourth Doomseeker, she saw Adam, riding atop one with a sword through the top of it. He appeared to be holding onto the sword and controlling the drone by wrenching it back and forth. It careened towards the transport, which was now rapidly heading for the city limits. “Is he going to jump?” She shook her head. “He’s going to jump.” She spun around to Mira. “Swing the transport around so he’s got a bigger target and everyone else _get out of the way_!”

Getting as close as he dared to the transport, Adam pulled his sword free of the wrecked Doomseeker and leapt for the open cargo hold. He almost made it but knew he had misjudged his momentum. In that moment, he considered the idea that he was about to die, and it was all for a damned bag of magic rocks.

“Got you!” He felt a pair of arms wrap around him as he fell, and reflexively threw his arms around whoever it was as he came to a sudden, dangling halt.

“Hi, Teela.” The two dangled from a rope underneath the transport as it accelerated and began to climb higher into the air. “Did you miss me?” They slowly began to spin as her green eyes met his blue, and she smiled.

“You’re such an idiot.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote some of this listening to Dillinger Four's CIVIL WAR. I wonder if that will mean anything down the line?
> 
> So the next chapter was originally going to stay on Etheria for a little while longer, but after posting all that Entraptosision I felt like maybe it would be nice if something a little more exciting happened. Just a little fun plot, for me, as a treat. Hope you all enjoyed reading this completely unexpected and not at all telegraphed development.
> 
> There is absolutely no way I keep this pace of output up but let's all enjoy it while it lasts, hmm?


	4. Impasses and Inmates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a meeting is held, and an important decision is made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a pain in the ass.

A council was being held.

“We can’t just give him access to the Spire Network, Entrapta. He spent years trying to conquer Etheria!”

Entrapta rubbed her temples in a rare show of annoyance and stared at Mermista. “We wouldn’t be giving him access to the Spire Network, he would be giving _me_ access to the Spire Network.”

“He destroyed Salineas!” Mermista shouted, pounding the table. “It’s my home, and he destroyed it!”

“Technically, that was Catra,” murmured Adora. “And you did a fair bit of damage yourself, if I remember.” Mermista’s face reddened.

“That was different, I was chipped.” Her hand went reflexively to the back of her neck. Glimmer quirked an eyebrow but said nothing.

“And Hordak was indoctrinated,” Adora continued smoothly. “Maybe not as directly controlled, but certainly controlled all the same.” She shrugged. “So was I, for that matter.”

“But you left, you figured it out, you became She-Ra.” Mermista waved her hands around for emphasis, “You saved Etheria!”

“And Hordak threw Horde Prime into the reactor of his own ship, and that should count for something,” Entrapta cut in. “Even though he was immediately possessed by Horde Prime owing to the weird connection that Prime had with all of his clones.”

“It’s the thought that counts!” Perfuma, quiet until now, said brightly.

“I still don’t trust him,” Mermista grumped. “We were at war for like, decades? He literally tried to rule the world. I can’t just forget that, and honestly, I don’t know how you are managing to.”

“Nobody is forgetting anything,” Glimmer spoke deliberately. “How could we forget, even if we wanted to?” She stood and began to walk around the long table. “I look out my window and the war is still out there. All the debris, and the damaged buildings, and the – the bodies of the fallen.” She blew out a shaky breath and tried to compose herself again. “There’s been so much sadness, and pain, and I don’t know when we’ll ever really feel like things are normal again. But I’m so tired of being angry, Mermista.” Glimmer placed a hand on Mermista’s shoulder. “I know it’s hard, but we have to give everyone a chance to prove themselves. Even Hordak.”

The anger seemed to drain from Mermista as her shoulders relaxed and she sighed, her eyes shining from unshed tears. “Fine,” she muttered. “I don’t like it, but fine.”

Glimmer turned to Entrapta and her face hardened ever so slightly. “I will release Hordak to your custody, Entrapta, but he is your responsibility. If something goes wrong, if he betrays our trust, _you_ will answer for it.”

“Oh, you won’t regret this Glimmer, for sure!” Entrapta shouted over her shoulder as she ran out of the council room. “Hey, who’s going to take me to Hordak? You?” She pointed at a guard standing at the door. The guard looked confusedly from Entrapta to Glimmer. Glimmer sighed and nodded.

“Escort Entrapta to the cell we’re keeping Hordak in. He is to be released into her custody.”

The guard nodded and hesitated slightly. “Yes, Queen Glimmer. Er, by cell, do you mean the guest room?”

“Yes, the guest room.” Glimmer sighed and looked around at the rest of the Princesses. “Why don’t we all take a break for today? We’ll reconvene tomorrow morning to continue our discussions around the reconstruction and restoration efforts.” The princesses filed out, chatting amongst themselves. Perfuma seemed eager to talk to Mermista; Glimmer thought she overheard something about meditation and breathing exercises. Adora stayed behind, leaning against the door frame. Glimmer sat back down and put her head in her hands with a groan.

“Hey,” Adora approached and put a hand on her shoulder. “You handled that really well.”

“Ugh.” Glimmer leaned back and looked up at the ceiling. “I still feel like I’m not qualified to do this at all.” She turned to look at Adora. “Is it bad that I sometimes miss being at war? That felt a lot simpler than cleaning up the aftermath.”

Adora shook her head with a smirk. “You’re telling me. I was raised to fight; it’s all I ever knew. I don’t know how to build a house, or how to restore sovereignty to Scorpia and her kingdom, or what to do about an army of former Horde soldiers or any of this!” She sighed. “I’m way out of my depth on this one.”

“I know, right? I still don’t know what we’re going to do about all the clones that Prime left behind. Right now, they’re pretty content to follow Wrong Hordak around, but at some point, we’ll have to figure out to do with them. I mean, they’re an entirely new species and all they ever knew was Horde Prime’s creepy thoughts.” Glimmer gave an involuntary shudder. She paused. “Did you notice how Mermista reached for her neck when she got upset?”

“Yeah,” Adora replied. “Catra does it too, you know. I’d bet most of the people who were chipped do it.” She shook her head. “I can’t imagine what they went through.”

“I can, and it sucked.” Catra spoke from the doorway. “Hey, Adora, Sparkles.”

Glimmer snorted, both at the nickname and at the incredibly dopey smile that appeared on Adora’s face as soon as she’d heard Catra’s voice. “Hey, Horde scum. Any interest in being the Queen of Brightmoon?”

“Not even a little bit,” Catra said, draping her arms around Adora’s shoulders – not an easy task, she had to stand on her toes to do it, but it was worth it to feel the slight shudder from Adora at the contact. “So, did you do anything incredibly stupid today?”

Glimmer shot a look to Adora, who shrugged as if to say, _might as well tell her now_. “Well,” she began, “I might have let Entrapta take custody of Hordak to work on modifying the Spire Network so we can use it ourselves.”

“Oh.” Catra’s fur ruffled slightly, but she remained relaxed. “That’s probably best for both of them, honestly.”

“Really?” Glimmer narrowed her eyes. “I thought you’d be way angrier about me letting Hordak go anywhere or do anything.”

“Nah,” Catra shrugged. “Hordak was a terrible boss, but we did work well together. Well, until we tried to kill each other. And then we both were hooked up to Horde Prime, and now we’re both here,” she turned to stare at Adora and waggled her eyebrows suggestively, “ _pining_ after a Princess.”

“That’s… that’s way more information than I need.” Glimmer wrinkled her nose.

“Oh yeah,” Catra continued, clearly enjoying the reaction she was getting, “Gonna make a support group with him and Bow.”

“Hey, Bow doesn’t have to pine after anything,” Glimmer smirked. “If anything, I’m the one dealing with his—.”

“OKAY, WELL THIS WAS GREAT.” Adora at this point was almost incandescently red. “GREAT MEETING GLIMMER, CAN’T WAIT FOR THE NEXT ONE, BYE NOW.” She turned around, sweeping Catra off her feet – Catra, who yowled in protest until Adora whispered something in her ear. Catra’s tail fluffed out in surprise, then curled around Adora’s waist.

Glimmer, for her part, laughed so hard that she fell out of her chair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously, do you know how many times I deleted an entire page of words when trying to get this chapter to do the thing I needed it to do?
> 
> More than twice. It was more than twice.
> 
> Glimmer is somewhat channeling my frustration, as in I've found it far easier to write about a fight than to write about peaceful interludes, at least so far. That just makes me want to write more non-action packed scenes so I can get better at it and maybe not take... however long it took to get this chapter done and dusted. Pretty pleased with how it eventually turned out, the dialogue ended up being my favorite part of it and a much better way to get the information I wanted to get across out into the tale. Also, I wrote this chapter while listening to the band Tacocat, who I highly recommend.


	5. Discourse and Destruction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Adam makes a new friend, and then gets shot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooh, we're properly in it now, aren't we?

“Adam.” The voice seemed to come from all around him, and he was not a fan. Adam had never been much of a fan of magic, and the fact that what he described to Duncan as “weird magic shit” had started happening to him with an alarming frequency of late – roughly since the defeat of Horde Prime, although Adam had no way of knowing the timing of that, or even the fact that Horde Prime had been defeated. All he knew was that he had been having these weird dreams lately.

“Adam…” The voice managed to convey a hint of impatience in it. Adam did his best to ignore it. He instead set about trying to wake himself up, closing his eyes tightly, slapping his face, pinching his arm, anything that would let him leave without having to face whatever it was that was so insistent on talking to him. He had things to do – important, world-saving things. The Horde wasn’t going to defeat itself!

“Ugh, by the power of Greyskull, how are you this stubborn?” Adam felt a warmth on his face and a piercingly bright light that he was aware of in spite of having his eyes closed. “AWAKEN!” the voice thundered, and this time Adam did open his eyes. He was confronted by a tall masculine figure, glowing with a golden light. The light faded, and Adam could make out the strong features of the face – familiar, somehow – and saw that the giant man had long, blond hair, a bushy beard, and was dressed in, well, not a whole lot. A sword was slung across his back, and he wore giant furred boots and what might have been a pair of hide shorts or might have been a loincloth. His arms were adorned with heavy iron bracers, and they were currently crossed in front of his massive chest.

“Um.” Adam stared.

“What.” Adam began.

“Are… you cold?” he finally managed to say. “I know this is a dream and all, but uh…”

The giant stared at Adam with impossibly blue eyes and blinked once. “Adam.”

“Yes,” Adam responded. “Yes, that’s me. I’m Adam, and you are the giant nude man who has been haunting my dreams, apparently.”

“You have some issues to work through, young man,” the giant stated, “but for the sake of getting through this without you forgetting everything I am about to tell you,” here he snapped one giant set of fingers and was suddenly clothed in leather armor of the sort that one might expect a Viking to wear, if such a thing as Vikings existed on Eternia. “Now, Adam. Are you ready to listen?”

“I think I don’t have much of a choice,” Adam muttered, “seeing as I can’t seem to wake up.”

“Yes, well,” the giant smirked. “You have been difficult to contact, and I have been running out of patience.” He shrugged his massive shoulders. “It does not change what is to come.”

“What’s to come, last I checked, was a rescue op, only I can’t do much rescuing if I am still asleep.” Adam looked annoyed.

“Adam, have you not noticed a change in things these past few weeks? When was the last time you saw a Prime clone on the field? For that matter, when was the last time you heard one of those insufferable speeches of his?”

Adam opened his mouth to argue and then closed it. When _had_ he last seen a Prime clone? “Some time before you started bothering me, I guess.” The giant nodded appreciatively.

“Ah, good, so you can notice things.” He continued. “You have found yourself at an inflection point in the history of the universe, Adam, blessed to live in interesting times.” The giant grinned widely. “Prime was defeated. Definitively. And now, we have other things to worry about.”

“Wait, wait, hang on,” Adam held up a hand. “What do you mean Prime was defeated?”

“I mean that some time ago, the dark entity known as Horde Prime was utterly annihilated while attempting to destroy the planet of Etheria.” The giant seemed to take particular satisfaction in this fact.

“Etheria? Etheria was destroyed over a thousand years ago! Vanished because of some ridiculous magic scheme cooked up by the mad mage Orko and his followers.” Adam shook his head. Every Eternian knew it as a cautionary tale, a warning to future generations to never again attempt to harness magic in that way again. The destruction of the universe was too high a price to pay to defeat Horde Prime.

“My dear boy, has nobody bothered to look into the night sky for the last year? Etheria was not destroyed, and now it has returned to its proper place.” The giant laughed, a great booming sound that warmed Adam’s heart in spite of his annoyance with the entire situation. “And so, it would seem, have I.”

“Right, yeah, about that,” Adam narrowed his eyes. “I feel like somebody would have noticed you by now if you’d ‘returned’ or whatever. I’m not even sure who you are, frankly.”

“By the Heavens, boy, of course you know who I am.” The giant shook his head. “I am _you_.”

“I feel like someone would have told me if I was that tall and walked around in just a loincloth.”

“An oversimplification, perhaps,” the giant waved away Adam’s comment. “I am the guardian of Eternia, sworn to protect this land, and I have been imprisoned for over a thousand years. It is high time I got back to it.” He placed a massive finger on Adam’s forehead. “You and I, we share a bond. A shared tragedy, a sworn duty.”

Adam decided to set aside whatever the hell this giant was talking about in favor of circling back to the news of Horde Prime’s defeat. “If Horde Prime was defeated, who’s been commanding his armies? Shouldn’t they be all… scrambled or whatever?” He grimaced. Adam didn’t really know how the whole Horde Prime thing worked, but he vaguely remembered Teela telling him it was some kind of hive mind.

“Horde Prime has not been directly involved in the war on Eternia for many years,” the giant responded. “He left the prosecution of this war in the hands of one of his most powerful and trusted lieutenants, one who spent years orchestrating the downfall of Eternia from the shadows.” He frowned. “He distracted your leaders, led them astray. When Prime struck, he all but opened the doors to Castle Greyskull for him. No, Adam,” the giant shook his head, “this war is far from over, so long as Keldor lives.” The giant’s frown deepened. “I fear that the return of magic to Eternia will only make him more powerful. But!” his face brightened, “it has also freed me from my long internment. Together, we shall defeat him yet, no matter what manner of sorceries he manages to conjure.”

“Still not sure how this whole together thing works,” Adam said.

“Ah, of course. The most important part.” The giant unsheathed his sword and tossed it to Adam. “You will need this, first of all.” Adam caught it easily, surprised at its weight.

“I thought it would be heavier.”

“This is still a dream, if you recall.” The giant smiled as the dream began to fade around them. “Should you require my help, hold the sword aloft, speak the words, and I shall grant you aid.”

“Wait, what words?” Adam muttered, the image of the giant distorting and fading away. “What words?” he repeated more loudly.

As his eyes opened and the dream began to fade from his mind, Adam heard the giant’s voice whisper to him, “By the Power of Greyskull…”

“The power of Greyskull, huh.” Adam looked around and found that he was back in his bed in the underground base beneath the ruins of Castle Greyskull. He felt something shift next to him and turned to find that Teela had rolled over to face him, half-awake.

“Mmh, did you say something, Adam?” she murmured sleepily.

“Nothing, Teela. Just a dream,” Adam replied, wrapping his arms around her. She smiled in her sleep and nuzzled into his chest.

“Tell me about it tomorrow?” she sighed, slipping back into unconsciousness.

“Sure, Teela. Tomorrow.” He closed his eyes and tried to fall back to sleep. Tomorrow promised to be remarkably interesting indeed.

*

“We got about an hour of fuel left before we’re walking home, so if you’re going to do something, make it fast,” Mira’s voice crackled in Adam’s ear. He keyed his mic twice in response, unwilling to say anything this deep into the enemy facility. Somewhere outside, he knew that Teela was keeping watch through the scope of her rifle, and the thought gave him some comfort. He trusted the intel gathered by Orius’s team but preferred to have some plan for when things inevitably went sideways.

He slipped down a passageway, pausing every few moments to listen for the tell-tale sound of patrolling guards. Thus far, he had managed to avoid confrontation altogether. He didn’t think that he’d be able to pull the same trick on the way out, but that was why he had a brick of explosives and the assurances of Orius that the cell his target was being held had an exterior-facing wall. He checked the walls of the corridors for any identifying markers and tried to remember the blueprints he had spent the last two weeks memorizing. The place wasn’t exactly a maze, but it was very utilitarian in its design, which made it difficult to keep track of where he was.

The sound of approaching footsteps sent Adam hustling around a corner and through an open doorway. He pressed himself to the side of the door and drew a long knife from his belt. If he had to draw his sword, he reasoned, all pretense of stealth was probably out the window. He held his breath and listened as the footsteps got closer, paused briefly at the doorway, and then continued onward down the hall. After what felt like an appropriate amount of time, he slipped back into the hallway and continued towards the cell block where his target was being held.

“Twenty minutes, Adam. Get a move on,” Mira chided in his ear. He moved quickly down the rows of cells – empty, he was surprised to see – until he finally saw him, crumpled in a corner. He stepped back to inspect the cell: a shimmering red energy field sealed the cell, with a control panel of some sort to the left. Adam inspected the control panel and pushed what he thought was the most likely button that meant “open.”

There was a harsh beeping sound and a light on the panel flashed. Wrong button, perhaps? Adam tried pressing another button and met with the same result. Adam tried a third time, and this time the light on the panel flashed and continued to flash. That, Adam thought, was probably a bad sign. Without another thought, he drove his knife into the panel with as much force as he could muster. The panel sparked and smoked, and the red energy field flickered and began to fade.

Adam strode inside and knelt next to the prone form. “All right, Darid, come on. Time to wake up.” He shook the figure, trying to rouse the man. “No time for napping, friend. I’m getting you out of here, so…” Adam’s voice trailed off as Darid’s head lolled forward, revealing the hilt of a dagger sticking out of the base of his neck. He sprang back, processing the scene in front of him.

He had infiltrated a prison, made it to a strangely deserted cell block, and found his target dead in a cell. That meant… “Adam, you need to get out of there!” Teela’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “There’s a whole squad that just rolled up to the front door, and I don’t think it’s a shift change.”

“No, it’s a trap,” Adam would have said, had he not been shot through the shoulder from behind. The force of the shot spun him around and he found himself staring at a sneering reptilian face, backed by what looked to be a dozen Horde soldiers.

“Ah, _Prince_ Adam,” the snake man hissed. “So good of you to join us.”

“Don’t you mean… ssssso good of me?” Adam grunted. Bad jokes were all he had at the moment, and he desperately needed a few moments to think of anything approaching a plan. The wall behind him was all that was keeping him from toppling over at the moment, he was almost sure of it.

The snake man’s face didn’t change at all, but he slashed across Adam’s chest with the claws of his right hand, sending the man spinning to the ground, his sword clattering next to him – the claws had cut right through the harness.

“Adam? Adam, what’s going on in there?” Teela’s voice came over his radio, a hint of panic in her voice. Adam grimaced in pain and attempted to stand up. The snake man responded by kicking him directly in the ribs, and he collapsed down.

“Ah, is this your radio, then?” the snake man drawled, reaching down and unhooking it from Adam’s belt. He thumbed the transmitter and spoke. “I’m afraid your Prince Adam is not available. This is General Rattlor, and I have the pleasure of informing you of Adam’s demise.” There was an alarming amount of cursing on the other end that was cut short as he crushed the radio in his claws and turned his back to leave the cell.

“Goodbye, Adam. I look forward to killing every single person you’ve ever cared about.” He walked out and gestured to his soldiers. “Prepare to fire.”

In a haze of pain and desperation, Adam looked around and spotted his sword. He slowly, painfully reached for it.

“Sir?” one of the soldiers commented. The General turned back to look.

“Ah, seems he’s got a little fight left in him. Let him get his sword, so he may die like a warrior.” He stepped back, allowing his troops to go in front of him.

Adam’s fingers closed on the sword hilt. Well, he had a sword now, at least, for all the good it was going to do him against a dozen soldiers armed with rifles.

The soldiers raised their rifles, and General Rattlor raised a claw, preparing to give the order to fire.

 _Hold the sword aloft, speak the words, and I shall grant you aid_.

Adam chuckled, in spite of the pain. Why the hell not? “By the power… of Grayskull.”

*

Duncan had to restrain Teela from charging at the facility from their position on a hill overlooking it. “Teela, it would be suicide!”

Teela struggled against his grip, her face a mask of rage and woe. “I’ll kill them. I’ll kill all of them and I’ll save Adam and he’ll be fine and I will _kill them all_.”

“Steady, my girl. The Resistance still needs you. I still need you.” He pulled her into a massive hug. “Do not abandon your father just yet.” Teela went limp against Duncan and sobbed. He patted her as comfortingly as he could and put a finger to his ear. “Mira, we’re ready for evac here. Just two.”

There was a long silence on the other end, before Mira’s voice came back, shaky but in control. “Copy that, Duncan. Two minutes out.” Duncan let himself collapse into a sitting position, still holding his daughter close. The two stared out at the facility, waiting for Mira to arrive.

There was a rushing sound, like a great wind, and a flare of the brightest light that Duncan had ever seen strobed out of the few windows that dotted the rear of the facility – the cell blocks, according to their intelligence. There was the sound of frantic gunfire, and a great, booming laughter. Suddenly, the entire rear wall detonated outward in another explosion of white flame. Duncan fumbled for his field glasses to get a better look. In the dusty haze of the aftermath, he could make out the figure of a giant man, at least seven feet all were he to guess, clad in ancient-looking armor, wielding a massive broadsword as if it were made of cardboard, and glowing a radiant golden light. The figure charged away from the facility, heading straight for their position on the hill. Duncan dropped his binoculars and turned swiftly to Teela.

“Quickly, Teela, get a bead on that… whoever it is.” He thumbed his radio again. “Mira, we’ve got incoming.” He turned back to see Teela, her rifle pointed downward, mouth agape.

“Teela, didn’t you hear me? Get a bead on him right now!” Teela shook her head slowly.

“I think…” she finally managed to say, “I think that’s Adam.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. Okay. So.
> 
> I think it is very important, at this point, to let you all know that I haven't watched He-Man since I was probably six years old, so if there's some 80s characterization that isn't present in the characters here, that's... that's why. I'm making them up as I go along.
> 
> I am, however, delving here and there to pull basic shapes and character names to try and make things a little more home-like for thems that care about it. For thems that don't mind either way, well, enjoy!
> 
> I think I might like writing for He-Man more than She-Ra. He's a little less... formal. But he still talks like she does (there is one thing that they do that nobody else does, on account of they're both gods and need some kind of tell in their speech to set them apart from the others).
> 
> Anyway, it took a while to write this and it will likely take a while to write the next one but thank you to anyone who took the time and kept this little story on their radar.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, you made it to the end! As I write this, the end comes pretty quickly, but perhaps one day it'll take a little more effort to get there. Thank you, either way, for reading. I'm terribly pleased to be here.


End file.
